Curtain-stretcher



A. HOPKINS. comm smUcHER.

APPLICATION FILED IUNE 17, 1919.

1,328,995. Patented 12111211920; l -20 I "A TTYS.

ALFRED HOPKQINS, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

CURTAIN -STRETCHER.

A Application led June`17,

To all 'whom t may concern: n

Be it known that I, ALFRED HOPKINS, a citizen of the United States, residingat Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Curtain-Stretchers, of which'the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an adjustable portable frame, on which a lace or other cur- 'stretcher being supported by an overhead -nected and forming tain may be stretched after washing, and held in a ilatposition While being dried, the frame being movable into a drying-room after lthe curtain has been adjusted upon it.

The invention has for its object to provide a curtain stretcher which is adjustable, so

that it is adapted to hold curtainsof various sizesin a stretched and flat condition, while I being dried.

The inventionconsists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specilicationf- Figure 1 is a side view of a curtain stretcher embodying the invention, the

track. l

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the same.

Fig. 3 is a side View showing partly in section, and 'partly in elevatiomportions of the stretcher andtrack.

Fig. 4 is a, section on line 4 4 of Fig. 3, looking toward the left.

Fig.- 5 is a fragmentary sectional view, showing a portion ofthe top member of the frame, and a portion of the vertical adjustable bar hereinafter described.

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5, looking toward the right.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective view, illustrating a portion of the means for raising and lowering the horizontal bar.

' The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

My improved curtain stretcher includes a rectangular portable frame composed of a horizontal topmember 12, a horizontal bottom member 13, and vertical end members 14 and 15, said members being rigidly cona rectangular, oblong frame. The frame 1s provided with suitable curtain-engaging means, here shown as embodied in strips 16 of card clothing, attached to the top member 12, and tothe end members 14 and 15, the material called card Specification of Letters Patent.

,Patented Jan. 27, 1920. 1919. Serial No. 304,882.

clothing being composed of a sheet or strip of leather, or the like, and wire teeth closely assembled on the strip, the points of the teeth projecting from one side of the strip, and being adapted to engage the meshes of a lace curtain.

The frame maybe suspended from a fixed horizontal trolley track 18, by means of hangers 19, attached to the top member 12,

and trolleys 20, connected with said hangers, and adapted to run on the track. The track may be extended into a drying-room, the length of the track being such that the frame will be supported outside the drying-room while the curtain is beingl applied thereto, and-then moved into the drying-room.

To the underside of the top member 12l of theframe is attached a trolley. track 21, preferably composed of sheet metal, formed to providetwo track portions for trolleys 22, connected as hereinafter described, with a vertical cross-bar 23.

The cross-bar 23.is formed to extend from the top member l2 to the bottom member 13 of the frame, and is provided with curtainengaging means, preferably embodied inl a strip 16a of card clothing, suitably attached to the cross-bar. The trolleys 22, of which four pairs are preferably employed, are connected with the bar 23 by hangers 26 and 27, extending through a longitudinal slot in the under side of the track 21. The hanger 26 is attached to the upper end of the cross-bar 23 and is connected with two pairs of wheels 22, as shown by Figs. 5 and 6. The hanger 27 is angular and attached to one side of the bar 23, and is connected with two pairs of wheels 22, the arrangement being such that the wheelsare arranged in tandem order,

and provide an elongated wheel base whereby the bar 23 is maintained in a vertical position and prevented from tipping or oscillating.

30 represents a horizontal cross-barv formed to extend practically the entire distance between the end members 14 and 15 of the frame, saidhoriz'ontal bar being vertically movable in an elongated slot 31 in the vertical cross-bar 23, the sides of said slot forming guides' for the cross-bar 30. The end portions of the cross-bar 30 are provided with spring-pressed bolts 32,v adapted to engage sockets 33 on the end members 14 and 15, the sockets being arranged in vertical rows, so that the cross-bar 30 may be located t preferably atl various heights. The bolts 32 may be connected by a cord 34 running through guides The cord 37 passes `over two guides 38 atA opposite end portions of the frame, and the cord 36 extends over one of thel guides 38,l

and over an intermediate guide 381 (Fig. 7 the two cords meeting `at 38", so that they may be simultaneously manipulated by an operator at one end of the frame. A counterbalancing weight 40 is attached to the cord and is adapted to yieldingly hold the cross-bar 30 at an position to which it may be vertically adjusted, the object of the weight being to prevent the cross-bar from dropping loosely to the bottom of the frame, and to hold it in convenient position to be locked at the desired height. The cross-bar 30 is provided with curtain-engaging means, embodied in a strip 16b ofv card clothing.

It will now be seen that the adjustable `cross-bars23 and 30 are adapted to copersuitably adjustingthe cross-bars, engages the edges of the curtain with'the card clothing on the frame members and on the cross'- bars, and then moves the frame into the drying-room.

As indicated by Fig. 6, the frame and the cross-bars are provided with curtain-engaging means at opposite sides, so that two curtains may be simultaneously stretched and dried, one on each side of the frame. The card clothing strips 16L on the vertical crossbar are preferably elongated, as shown by Fig. 6, so that they overlap the Sides of the position.

1. A curtain stretcher comprisin a rec- A tangular portable frame-composed ot rigidly connected top, bottom and end members, provided with curtain-engaging means, a trolley track attached to the top member, a longitudinally slotted vertical cross-bar having curtain-engaging means, trolleys connected with the upper end of said bar adaptcross-bar being forked to bestride and slide upon the bottom frame-bar, a horizontal cross-bar having curtain-engaging means and slidable vertically in the slot of the vertical cross-bar, coperating locking members on the horizontal bar and o n the frame-end members, whereby the horizontal bar may be locked to the frame in different positions,

and means for raising and lowering the horizontal bar, said means includin cords attached to opposite ends of the horizontal bar', and cord guides on the top frame-bar, said cords being operable from one. end of the frame to move the horizontal bar vertically and maintain the latter in a horizontal posie tion.

2.V A curtain stretcher substantially as specified by claim 1, the said trolleys being arranged to provide an elongated wheel base maintaining the vertical bar in an upright 3. A curtain stretcher substantially as specified by claim 1, the said cords being provided with a weight adapted to counterbalance the horizontal bar.

4. A curtain stretcher substantially as specified -by claim 1, the curtain-engaging means on the vertical bar being extended to overlap the. said track.'

- ed to run on said track, the lower end ofthe In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature.

- ALFRED HOPKINS. 

